Yea, when I first read the Wikipedia article on Bitcoin it seemed strange to me that it spent so much space explaining that it was unlikely for any single player to control a majority of the mining resources. Whoever wrote it, in trying to explain how secure Bitcoin was, merely highlighted one of its known weaknesses.

the thing I didn't notice at the time was that {members of large mining pools get a more consistent income} -> {large mining pools tend to get larger}, although that seems pretty obvious when you consider why mining pools were started in the first place_________________butts

Of course, given how stupidly difficult it can be to get money out of bitcoin exchanges gift cards might actually end up being a more viable option.

However, that's not really a good thing, just a sign of how mediocre a lot of bitcoin services are._________________Hangman, hangman, hold it a little while, I think I see my brother coming, riding many a mile.

So apparently one bitcoin mining operation has maintained 51% of the mining transactions for a significant ammount of time (at least 12 hours), which gives them the ability to, effectively, break bitcoin. (Spend coins twice, block other mining/transactions, etc etc.)_________________"No, but evil is still being --Is having reason-- Being reasonable! Mousie understands? Is always being reason. Is punishing world for not being... Like in head. Is always reason. World should be different, is reason."
-Ed, from Digger

*Slinks back into the shadows*_________________"No, but evil is still being --Is having reason-- Being reasonable! Mousie understands? Is always being reason. Is punishing world for not being... Like in head. Is always reason. World should be different, is reason."
-Ed, from Digger

Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2014 2:30 pm Post subject: Your way of life comes at the cost of others

Heretical Rants wrote:

But who shall be the critic Bitcoin deserves? Will it be you, kindly reader? Tune in next time to find out!

Before we go, our sponsors would like to remind you to wake up in a warm house with 'blue coal'! Yes, solid fuel is totally still a thing!

You seem to think something is funny here.

You seem like a reasonable chap, much more so than the other white privileged males here.

I'll explain very simply and concisely why bitcoin is necessary in this world, and you can decide for yourself whether you still find it humorous.

Quote:

“In short, Western Union spends and earns billions to do what Bitcoin does for free.” – National Geographic

While Bitcoin is often considered a payment system for citizens in the US and other first world countries, often missed are the economic benefits it offers to the some of the poorest countries in the world.

For example, in many countries in Africa, the infrastructure of home phones was completely bypassed for the much cheaper and more capable infrastructure of cell phones. There are millions of people in Africa without access to modern banking and mobile cell phone banking has become a major means of financial access for citizens. Financial Innovators have already begun building services in Africa to replace the current text banking infrastructure with one facilitated by Bitcoin.

Many workers from the poorest countries in the world work in a country other than their home country and send money to provide a means of living for their family. In 2012 alone, migrant workers sent home $372 billion dollars, paying fees as high as 20% in order to do so. Bitcoin would allow these fees to be placed in the hands of people who earned it, as opposed to international money transfer conglomerates. It is ironic when you research the fees associated with transfers, that the poorest countries are often the ones that must pay the highest transaction fees.

“The vast majority of the planet don’t even own a bank account,” Bitcoin evangelist Jonathan Mohan tells PBS Newshour. “And it’s my contention that—and a lot of people think this—that, just as in Africa, they didn’t go to phones. They went directly to cell phones, that, in the same sort of adoption curve, in these developing nations, you’re not going to see them start getting bank accounts. You’re going to see them just going straight to Bitcoins, because if you own a Bitcoin address, you have a bank account on your phone that you can interact on the global stage with.”

Quote:

Bitcoin is increasingly used by migrant workers to transfer money back home, and is therefore beginning to serve really genuine purposes, not just ideological ones, which is promising to see.

The plight of many migrant workers in Bahrain begins in their home countries, where poverty and financial obligations entice them to seek higher paying jobs abroad. Often, they pay local recruitment agencies fees equivalent to approximately 10 to 20 months wages in Bahrain, even though Bahraini law forbids anyone from charging such fees to workers. It is common for construction and other lowskilled male workers to pay such fees, although uncommon for domestic workers, who tend to come to Bahrain through formal recruitment agencies. The debt that many workers incur to pay recruitment agencies and airfare means they feel compelled to stay in jobs despite unpaid wages or unsafe housing and worksite conditions for months and even years. Once in Bahrain, migrants depend on regular payment of their salaries to meet their own immediate financial needs and those of their families at home, or to meet monthly loan repayments. Workers indicated that the problem of unpaid wages tops the list of their grievances. Although nonpayment of wages is a criminal as well as civil offence in Bahrain, some employers withhold wages from migrant workers for many months. Without an income source, migrant workers take on more debt to cover basic needs. In 2008 and 2009 the Individual Complaints Department at the Ministry of Labor received nearly 1,800 complaints of withheld and late wages. Out of 62 migrant workers whom Human Rights Watch interviewed, 32 reported that their employers withheld their wages for between three to ten months

Quote:

Right now, companies such as Western Union, Moneygram, Paypal, and the more commonly used Visa and Master Card are making billions and billions of dollars each year in transaction fees.

Here is an example:

To send $1,000 via Western Union from the USA to Canada, will cost $86.00 in fees.

To send $1,000 via Paypal from one account to another, the cost would be $29.30

These numbers do not calculate the amount lost from exchange rates between two currencies.

Price to send Bitcoin:

FREE

Hopefully I shouldn't have to explain how 3rd world countries have a tendency to require a massive overinflated currency, which makes it extremely difficult for the poor to survive without working for sweatshops and the like.

* bitcoin transactions aren't free -- the transaction fee is the payout to miners, plus the cost of keeping your "wallet" secure + backed up and the risk involved in trading in a volatile commodity

and, currently, the cost of converting it to a useful currency

Quote:

withheld their wages

* I don't see how bitcoin would prevent employers from withholding wages

Quote:

3rd world countries have a tendency to require a massive overinflated currency, which makes it extremely difficult for the poor to survive without working for sweatshops and the like.

* yes, great, let's enslave poor people with hoarded+deflationary (where their debt gets greater over time) cryptocurrency instead of with inflated+hoarded fiat currency, that'll be so much better_________________butts

So apparently one bitcoin mining operation has maintained 51% of the mining transactions for a significant ammount of time (at least 12 hours), which gives them the ability to, effectively, break bitcoin. (Spend coins twice, block other mining/transactions, etc etc.)

bitcoin enthusiasts are breaking their brains trying to come up with a reason why this is not a serious issue with bitcoin

* bitcoin transactions aren't free -- the transaction fee is the payout to miners, plus the cost of keeping your "wallet" secure + backed up and the risk involved in trading in a volatile commodity

and, currently, the cost of converting it to a useful currency

Quote:

withheld their wages

* I don't see how bitcoin would prevent employers from withholding wages

Quote:

3rd world countries have a tendency to require a massive overinflated currency, which makes it extremely difficult for the poor to survive without working for sweatshops and the like.

* yes, great, let's enslave poor people with hoarded+deflationary (where their debt gets greater over time) cryptocurrency instead of with inflated+hoarded fiat currency, that'll be so much better

Do the calculations HR.

No, really do them.

They save a ridiculous amount of money via this avenue.

Furthermore, they are using it purely for quick money transfers, so your bullshit about them being enslaved to cryptocurrency is exactly that.

Go ahead, tell that to a migrant worker trying to send money back to his family, he'll laugh at you.

And if you are having problems understanding why a worker with withheld wages would not be interested in saving money, I suggest you read the article again.

Checkmate, etc etc.

PS: Tell wheels to at least make an attempt at understanding what he is posting, because he looks like a fool when he blindly posts whatever trash articles that wind up in his gullet; especially when these events have been disproven for ages now.

Typical action of someone not at all involved with the community.

Of course, he's been rather quiet lately, so I suspect that he understands that he's made a mistake.